Up With the Birds honored as Canada's Horse of the Year
Apr 12, 2014 22:34:54 GMT -5
Post by Jon on Apr 12, 2014 22:34:54 GMT -5
Up With the Birds honored as Canada's Horse of the Year
Brisnet
Up With the Birds took home two Sovereign Awards as Canada's Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography
Grade 1 hero Up With the Birds was honored as Canada's 2013 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male when the Jockey Club of Canada held its 39th Annual Sovereign Awards Party Friday evening on Woodbine's third floor in Toronto. More than 300 guests attended the event to celebrate with the finalists and newly crowned champions of Thoroughbred racing in Canada for 2013.
The Sovereign Awards are Canada's premier awards for Thoroughbred racing and breeding with both the owner and breeder of each champion horse being recognized with a Sovereign Award Trophy for first time winners or a Gold Sovereign Coin for those who have won a trophy previously. In an effort to promote equal opportunity in determining the winners for 2013 in the 17-race award and three-media award categories, the voting began January 2, allowing for statistics for the entire year to be considered.
Up With the Birds went 4-2-0 from six starts in 2013 with $948,953 in earnings, taking the Grade 1 Jamaican Handicap at Belmont Park in his season finale. The Stormy Atlantic colt opened his sophomore campaign with a win at Fair Grounds in the Black Gold, then just missed by a neck in Keeneland's Grade 3 Transylvania.
Trainer Malcolm Pierce shipped his pupil back to Woodbine, where he began his racing career as a two-year-old, and Up With the Birds responded with a 4 3/4-length romp in the Marine Stakes. The bay was made the 8-5 favorite for the Queen's Plate following that easy win and just missed by a half-length in the first leg of Canada's Triple Crown. The Sam-Son Farms' homebred closed out 2013 by taking the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown -- the Breeders' Stakes -- and the Jamaica.
Up With the Birds garnered 113 votes to beat out Forte dei Marmi (52), Phil's Dream (40) and Herbie D (14) for Horse of the Year. He earned 153 votes to earn the title of champion three-year-old over River Seven (60), Five Iron (35) and Midnight Aria (32).
Melnyk Racing Stables Inc.'s Leigh Court was named champion three-year-old filly following a 9-5-2-0, $335,400, opening season for trainer Josie Carroll. The Grand Slam filly started her career at Fair Grounds, breaking her maiden at first asking. She would go on to take the Duchess Stakes, Grade 3 Ontario Colleen and La Lorgnette Stakes, in succession, during the latter part of 2013 and closed out the year with a close fourth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
Leigh Court had 135 votes compared to fellow nominees Overheard (55), Nipissing (33) and Coffee Clique (17).
Christopher T. Dunn and Loooch Racing's Ria Antonia ended 2013 on a high note when awarded the victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies after finishing a nose second to eventual U.S. champion two-year-old filly She's a Tiger. That, combined with her 5-2-0-0, $1,156,140, season, was enough for the bay miss to earn her own accolades as Canada's champion two-year-old filly.
Ria Antonia began her career last July, running fifth in the My Dear Stakes, and then broke her maiden by six lengths just 15 days later at Woodbine. She finished fourth in the Swynford Stakes, and was subsequently transferred from trainer Ricky Griffith to Jeremiah Englehart's shedrow. Her new conditioner shipped his Rockport Harbor filly to Belmont for the Grade 1 Frizette, where she wound up fifth on the wire, before sending her cross-country to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup. The move paid off big as Ria Antonia was made the winner following the disqualification of She's a Tiger.
Ria Antonia had 105 of the votes for champion two-year-old filly, beating Paladin Bay (97), Lexie Lou (36) and On Rainbow Bridge (16).
J.R. Racing Stable Inc.'s Go Greeley was honored as Canada's champion two-year-old male following three consecutive stakes wins last season. The John Ross-trained son of Horse Greeley took the Colin, Vandal and Simcoe Stakes while just missing by a nose in the Clarendon Stakes. The dark bay made his juvenile finale a third-place run in the Grade 3 Grey and ended the year with a 6-4-1-1, $375,603, scorecard.
Go Greeley just beat out Jose Sea View for championship honors, taking 82 votes to that one's 81. Asserting Bear (45) and Ami's Holiday (42) were the other nominees in the category.
Bulldog Racing's Alpha Bettor was named champion older male after going 6-3-1-1, $336,441, in 2013. The Alphabet Soup five-year-old captured the Eclipse and Autumn, both Grade 2s, last season and defended his title in the Grade 3 Seagram while placing in the Durham Cup and Dominion Day, both Grade 3s, for trainer Daniel Vella. Alpha Bettor earned 126 votes over Herbie D (58), Ultimate Destiny (34) and Delegation (31)
Gary Barber's Sisterly Love took both the Trillium and Grade 3 Ontario Matron while placing in the Houston Ladies Classic and Belle Mahone. That was enough for the Mark Casse trainee to be honored as champion older female. The Bellamy Road mare ran up an 8-2-1-1, $257,104, mark for the year, and had 123 votes over Part the Seas (71), Moonlit Beauty (42) and Madeira Park (21).
Stella Perdomo's Forte dei Marmi may have lost out on Horse of the Year honors to Up With the Birds, but the Selkirk eight-year-old still earned the title of champion turf male for his victories in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf, Grade 2 Sky Classic and Grade 3 Singspiel. Trained by Roger Attfield, the bay gelding set a new 10-furlong course record at Woodbine of 2:00.12 when taking the Sky Classic, and closed out the year with a 7-3-0-0, $385,159, record.
Forte dei Marmi garnered 123 votes to Up With the Birds 105 for champion turf male, with River Seven (28) and Phil's Dream (20) also nominated.
Jim and Susan Hill's Solid Appeal was named champion turf female for her scores in the Nassau and Dance Smartly, both Grade 2s, in 2013. The Reade Baker-trained daughter of Successful Appeal closed out her four-year-old campaign with a close third in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs in November to finish off a 6-3-0-1, $259,116, yearly mark. The dark bay mare had 126 votes over Leigh Court (76), Overheard (60) and Part the Seas (13).
Phil's Dream, who is campaigned by Buttigieg Training Centre and trained by breeder Paul Buttigieg, earned champion male sprinter honors for going 7-1-1 from 10 starts last year. The Philanthropist gelding won the Grade 1 Nearctic as well as the Overskate and Ontario Jockey Club Stakes. He also placed in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road while banking $518,276 for the year. Phil's Dream had 144 votes on fellow nominees Essence Hit Man (49), Herbie D (36) and Bear No Joke (22).
Murray Stroud's Youcan'tcatchme garnered champion female sprinter honors after capturing the Ontario Fashion and Seaway, both Grade 3s, as well as the Etobicoke Stakes. The five-year-old daughter of The Daddy also placed in the Apelia Stakes while racking up $249,259 in earnings to go along with her 5-3-1-0 record in 2013. Youcan'tcatchme took 88 votes over Goldstryke Glory (65), Leigh Court (58) and Part the Seas (46).
The Arch mare Captivating was honored as outstanding broodmare Friday night. A finalist in this category in 2012, Captivating has proven to be a keeper for breeder Bill Graham.
The 12-year-old Ontario-bred is the dam of 2012 Canadian Horse of the Year and champion two-year-old colt Uncaptured. The son of Lion Heart continued his superb career in 2013 by winning the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie and placing in five other stakes races, three of them graded. Captivating's first foal to race is stakes winner Dancing Raven, a seven-year-old mare by Tomahawk who won two stakes at Woodbine, placed in six others and earned more than $396,000 on track.
The voting results for outstanding broodmare were Captivating (84), Shebandowana (66), Star Guest (50) and Galadriel (19).
A five-time winner in the outstanding trainer category including the past two seasons in succession, Mark Casse and his team continued its successful run as Woodbine's leading stable in 2013.
Casse won 85 races at the meeting, and one at Fort Erie thanks to Uncaptured's Prince of Wales score, to lead all conditioners at the Toronto track. Casse won 19 stakes races in Canada, three of them graded events, with Madly Truly, Laugh Track, My Conquestadory, Delegation, Sisterly Love and Delightful Mary.
Laugh Track went on to finish a fast-closing second in the 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in November, and on Saturday finished third in the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland. My Conquestadory won the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland last October, Sisterly Love was named champion older female and Delegation was a 2013 Sovereign finalist for older male.
Casse had 144 votes to take yet another Sovereign Award over Reade Baker (54), Malcolm Pierce (25) and Nicholas Gonzalez (11).
Eurico Da Silva was honored with a Sovereign Award as the 2013 outstanding jockey, leading all riders by wins and purses. Nearing his 10th year riding at Woodbine, Da Silva had his second best season ever as a jockey in 2013 by purse earnings. He was second in wins in 2013 to Luis Contreras but led the colony by purse earnings and his 27 stakes wins was easily the best of any rider in Canada in 2013.
Da Silva had 126 votes to Contreras' 83, while Rico Walcott (39) and Justin Stein (13) were the other nominees.
A nominee in outstanding apprentice jockey category in 2012, Skye Chernetz had an even better second season as an apprentice to take the Sovereign Award Friday night. Chernetz, who grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the daughter of one of Canada's first women riders, Bonnie Eshelman. Chernetz knew she wanted to ride racehorses at the age of 8 and learned her skills at her hometown's Assiniboia Downs.
She set up shop for her first season as a jockey at Woodbine racetrack in 2012 under the wing of veteran trainer Dave Cotey, winning her first race in May of that year. Chernetz scored her first stakes when guiding On Rainbow Bridge to victory in the Shady Well Stakes at Woodbine for Cotey followed by a second stakes win in the Nandi on the same filly in August.
Chernetz took 111 votes, three more than Amie Pooli (108). Tommy Wong (18) and Sheena Ryan (13) were also nominated.
Oklahoma oilman John Oxley earned his second consecutive outstanding owner Sovereign Award and was also leading owner at Woodbine by purse earnings the past two seasons. In 2013, Oxley-campaigned, Casse-trained runners won 27 races including nine stakes races. The stakes wins were by nine different horses, illustrating the strength of the Oxley bench.
Oxley easily garnered the most votes at 127, with Sam-Son Farms (62), Bear Stables Ltd. (36) and Tucci Stables (15) following.
One of Canada's longtime leading breeders of top-class Thoroughbreds, Sam-Son Farms has been a perennial finalist in the outstanding breeder category and earned its seventh Sovereign Award Friday night. Now operated by Mark and Kim Samuel, and Rick Balaz and family, Sam-Son was a finalist in this category in 2012. The stars of 2013 included nine stakes horses led by Up With the Birds.
Sam-Son Farm had 119 votes over William D. Graham (79), Adena Springs (43) and Chiefswood Stables Ltd. (10)
The inaugural Jockey Club of Canada Award was presented to Janie Ginsberg at the School of Media Studies and Information Technology, Humber Institute of Advanced Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto in January 2014. The monetary award is presented to a student entering their final year of study, who has exemplified outstanding leadership inside and out of the classroom; who has showcased exceptional knowledge of sport and sport issues with special consideration given to those who have reported on issues relating to Canadian Thoroughbred coverage. Ginsberg was presented with a plaque in recognition of receiving the award on Friday night.
Brisnet
Up With the Birds took home two Sovereign Awards as Canada's Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography
Grade 1 hero Up With the Birds was honored as Canada's 2013 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male when the Jockey Club of Canada held its 39th Annual Sovereign Awards Party Friday evening on Woodbine's third floor in Toronto. More than 300 guests attended the event to celebrate with the finalists and newly crowned champions of Thoroughbred racing in Canada for 2013.
The Sovereign Awards are Canada's premier awards for Thoroughbred racing and breeding with both the owner and breeder of each champion horse being recognized with a Sovereign Award Trophy for first time winners or a Gold Sovereign Coin for those who have won a trophy previously. In an effort to promote equal opportunity in determining the winners for 2013 in the 17-race award and three-media award categories, the voting began January 2, allowing for statistics for the entire year to be considered.
Up With the Birds went 4-2-0 from six starts in 2013 with $948,953 in earnings, taking the Grade 1 Jamaican Handicap at Belmont Park in his season finale. The Stormy Atlantic colt opened his sophomore campaign with a win at Fair Grounds in the Black Gold, then just missed by a neck in Keeneland's Grade 3 Transylvania.
Trainer Malcolm Pierce shipped his pupil back to Woodbine, where he began his racing career as a two-year-old, and Up With the Birds responded with a 4 3/4-length romp in the Marine Stakes. The bay was made the 8-5 favorite for the Queen's Plate following that easy win and just missed by a half-length in the first leg of Canada's Triple Crown. The Sam-Son Farms' homebred closed out 2013 by taking the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown -- the Breeders' Stakes -- and the Jamaica.
Up With the Birds garnered 113 votes to beat out Forte dei Marmi (52), Phil's Dream (40) and Herbie D (14) for Horse of the Year. He earned 153 votes to earn the title of champion three-year-old over River Seven (60), Five Iron (35) and Midnight Aria (32).
Melnyk Racing Stables Inc.'s Leigh Court was named champion three-year-old filly following a 9-5-2-0, $335,400, opening season for trainer Josie Carroll. The Grand Slam filly started her career at Fair Grounds, breaking her maiden at first asking. She would go on to take the Duchess Stakes, Grade 3 Ontario Colleen and La Lorgnette Stakes, in succession, during the latter part of 2013 and closed out the year with a close fourth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
Leigh Court had 135 votes compared to fellow nominees Overheard (55), Nipissing (33) and Coffee Clique (17).
Christopher T. Dunn and Loooch Racing's Ria Antonia ended 2013 on a high note when awarded the victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies after finishing a nose second to eventual U.S. champion two-year-old filly She's a Tiger. That, combined with her 5-2-0-0, $1,156,140, season, was enough for the bay miss to earn her own accolades as Canada's champion two-year-old filly.
Ria Antonia began her career last July, running fifth in the My Dear Stakes, and then broke her maiden by six lengths just 15 days later at Woodbine. She finished fourth in the Swynford Stakes, and was subsequently transferred from trainer Ricky Griffith to Jeremiah Englehart's shedrow. Her new conditioner shipped his Rockport Harbor filly to Belmont for the Grade 1 Frizette, where she wound up fifth on the wire, before sending her cross-country to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup. The move paid off big as Ria Antonia was made the winner following the disqualification of She's a Tiger.
Ria Antonia had 105 of the votes for champion two-year-old filly, beating Paladin Bay (97), Lexie Lou (36) and On Rainbow Bridge (16).
J.R. Racing Stable Inc.'s Go Greeley was honored as Canada's champion two-year-old male following three consecutive stakes wins last season. The John Ross-trained son of Horse Greeley took the Colin, Vandal and Simcoe Stakes while just missing by a nose in the Clarendon Stakes. The dark bay made his juvenile finale a third-place run in the Grade 3 Grey and ended the year with a 6-4-1-1, $375,603, scorecard.
Go Greeley just beat out Jose Sea View for championship honors, taking 82 votes to that one's 81. Asserting Bear (45) and Ami's Holiday (42) were the other nominees in the category.
Bulldog Racing's Alpha Bettor was named champion older male after going 6-3-1-1, $336,441, in 2013. The Alphabet Soup five-year-old captured the Eclipse and Autumn, both Grade 2s, last season and defended his title in the Grade 3 Seagram while placing in the Durham Cup and Dominion Day, both Grade 3s, for trainer Daniel Vella. Alpha Bettor earned 126 votes over Herbie D (58), Ultimate Destiny (34) and Delegation (31)
Gary Barber's Sisterly Love took both the Trillium and Grade 3 Ontario Matron while placing in the Houston Ladies Classic and Belle Mahone. That was enough for the Mark Casse trainee to be honored as champion older female. The Bellamy Road mare ran up an 8-2-1-1, $257,104, mark for the year, and had 123 votes over Part the Seas (71), Moonlit Beauty (42) and Madeira Park (21).
Stella Perdomo's Forte dei Marmi may have lost out on Horse of the Year honors to Up With the Birds, but the Selkirk eight-year-old still earned the title of champion turf male for his victories in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf, Grade 2 Sky Classic and Grade 3 Singspiel. Trained by Roger Attfield, the bay gelding set a new 10-furlong course record at Woodbine of 2:00.12 when taking the Sky Classic, and closed out the year with a 7-3-0-0, $385,159, record.
Forte dei Marmi garnered 123 votes to Up With the Birds 105 for champion turf male, with River Seven (28) and Phil's Dream (20) also nominated.
Jim and Susan Hill's Solid Appeal was named champion turf female for her scores in the Nassau and Dance Smartly, both Grade 2s, in 2013. The Reade Baker-trained daughter of Successful Appeal closed out her four-year-old campaign with a close third in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs in November to finish off a 6-3-0-1, $259,116, yearly mark. The dark bay mare had 126 votes over Leigh Court (76), Overheard (60) and Part the Seas (13).
Phil's Dream, who is campaigned by Buttigieg Training Centre and trained by breeder Paul Buttigieg, earned champion male sprinter honors for going 7-1-1 from 10 starts last year. The Philanthropist gelding won the Grade 1 Nearctic as well as the Overskate and Ontario Jockey Club Stakes. He also placed in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road while banking $518,276 for the year. Phil's Dream had 144 votes on fellow nominees Essence Hit Man (49), Herbie D (36) and Bear No Joke (22).
Murray Stroud's Youcan'tcatchme garnered champion female sprinter honors after capturing the Ontario Fashion and Seaway, both Grade 3s, as well as the Etobicoke Stakes. The five-year-old daughter of The Daddy also placed in the Apelia Stakes while racking up $249,259 in earnings to go along with her 5-3-1-0 record in 2013. Youcan'tcatchme took 88 votes over Goldstryke Glory (65), Leigh Court (58) and Part the Seas (46).
The Arch mare Captivating was honored as outstanding broodmare Friday night. A finalist in this category in 2012, Captivating has proven to be a keeper for breeder Bill Graham.
The 12-year-old Ontario-bred is the dam of 2012 Canadian Horse of the Year and champion two-year-old colt Uncaptured. The son of Lion Heart continued his superb career in 2013 by winning the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie and placing in five other stakes races, three of them graded. Captivating's first foal to race is stakes winner Dancing Raven, a seven-year-old mare by Tomahawk who won two stakes at Woodbine, placed in six others and earned more than $396,000 on track.
The voting results for outstanding broodmare were Captivating (84), Shebandowana (66), Star Guest (50) and Galadriel (19).
A five-time winner in the outstanding trainer category including the past two seasons in succession, Mark Casse and his team continued its successful run as Woodbine's leading stable in 2013.
Casse won 85 races at the meeting, and one at Fort Erie thanks to Uncaptured's Prince of Wales score, to lead all conditioners at the Toronto track. Casse won 19 stakes races in Canada, three of them graded events, with Madly Truly, Laugh Track, My Conquestadory, Delegation, Sisterly Love and Delightful Mary.
Laugh Track went on to finish a fast-closing second in the 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in November, and on Saturday finished third in the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland. My Conquestadory won the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland last October, Sisterly Love was named champion older female and Delegation was a 2013 Sovereign finalist for older male.
Casse had 144 votes to take yet another Sovereign Award over Reade Baker (54), Malcolm Pierce (25) and Nicholas Gonzalez (11).
Eurico Da Silva was honored with a Sovereign Award as the 2013 outstanding jockey, leading all riders by wins and purses. Nearing his 10th year riding at Woodbine, Da Silva had his second best season ever as a jockey in 2013 by purse earnings. He was second in wins in 2013 to Luis Contreras but led the colony by purse earnings and his 27 stakes wins was easily the best of any rider in Canada in 2013.
Da Silva had 126 votes to Contreras' 83, while Rico Walcott (39) and Justin Stein (13) were the other nominees.
A nominee in outstanding apprentice jockey category in 2012, Skye Chernetz had an even better second season as an apprentice to take the Sovereign Award Friday night. Chernetz, who grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the daughter of one of Canada's first women riders, Bonnie Eshelman. Chernetz knew she wanted to ride racehorses at the age of 8 and learned her skills at her hometown's Assiniboia Downs.
She set up shop for her first season as a jockey at Woodbine racetrack in 2012 under the wing of veteran trainer Dave Cotey, winning her first race in May of that year. Chernetz scored her first stakes when guiding On Rainbow Bridge to victory in the Shady Well Stakes at Woodbine for Cotey followed by a second stakes win in the Nandi on the same filly in August.
Chernetz took 111 votes, three more than Amie Pooli (108). Tommy Wong (18) and Sheena Ryan (13) were also nominated.
Oklahoma oilman John Oxley earned his second consecutive outstanding owner Sovereign Award and was also leading owner at Woodbine by purse earnings the past two seasons. In 2013, Oxley-campaigned, Casse-trained runners won 27 races including nine stakes races. The stakes wins were by nine different horses, illustrating the strength of the Oxley bench.
Oxley easily garnered the most votes at 127, with Sam-Son Farms (62), Bear Stables Ltd. (36) and Tucci Stables (15) following.
One of Canada's longtime leading breeders of top-class Thoroughbreds, Sam-Son Farms has been a perennial finalist in the outstanding breeder category and earned its seventh Sovereign Award Friday night. Now operated by Mark and Kim Samuel, and Rick Balaz and family, Sam-Son was a finalist in this category in 2012. The stars of 2013 included nine stakes horses led by Up With the Birds.
Sam-Son Farm had 119 votes over William D. Graham (79), Adena Springs (43) and Chiefswood Stables Ltd. (10)
The inaugural Jockey Club of Canada Award was presented to Janie Ginsberg at the School of Media Studies and Information Technology, Humber Institute of Advanced Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto in January 2014. The monetary award is presented to a student entering their final year of study, who has exemplified outstanding leadership inside and out of the classroom; who has showcased exceptional knowledge of sport and sport issues with special consideration given to those who have reported on issues relating to Canadian Thoroughbred coverage. Ginsberg was presented with a plaque in recognition of receiving the award on Friday night.
